There ain't nothin' like a rental car
by Seaneth
Summary: [Scare Tactics] After his brother falls ill, Vince rents a car to get to him. However, he runs into trouble when he hears thumping from the trunk...
1. One: Bad News

**There ain't nothin' like a rental car**

Although the temperature was not above average, Vince Harper felt a small bead of sweat roll down the left side of his face, resembling a tear-drop. He turned away from the rest of his family whilst he swept his forearm over the offending cheek.

"Are you crying?" asked his wife, Helen with a hint of amusement hidden in the tone of her voice.

"Of course not, don't talk nonsense!" Vince snapped back. Although he would have hated to admit it, he was unsure whether or not it was a tear. For him, that was the definition of absolute humiliation, crying in front of his family. Vince's appearance was quite intimidating. He had a bald head, which reflected when he entered rooms with a lot of light. He was gifted with a muscular body, although 3 hours at the gym also accounted for this fact. At the moment of the accusation, the Harper family, which consisted of Vincent, Helen and their only son Joe, were travelling from Scotland to Devon. They did not possess a car, so after much deliberation the two adults decided to rent one out. This agreement would eventually lead to the Harper families downfall in the most unusual circumstances...

A couple of days before, Vince had received a telephone call from his mother, in which she explained that his brother, George, was terribly unwell. He had recently been to Malaysia and contracted Malaria from an infected mosquito. When Vince heard the news, he nearly dropped the phone in horror. His brother, the boy who when they were younger, built tree houses with. Who rang the doorbell of Mrs Hectors house and sprinted off, keeling over with laughter. And he was slowly slipping away from mortal life, with nothing or no one being able to postpone it. Vince naturally felt so helpless, so useless. It wasn't fair. First it was is father, now his brother. The ironic thing was, they both were infected with the same disease. He felt like getting his colt .45 and turning it on himself. But then he thought of his mother and family, changed his mind and regretted letting the thought enter his clouded and hazy mind. After coming to his senses, he called his mother.

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" he asked her, bleary eyed. Obviously, he was not in the same room as the rest of the members of the house.

"Well, you could come to here and say your goodbyes" his mother said, strangely with hardly any emotion expressed.

"I don't own a car mum, you know that"

"Oh, so the small problem of now having a car is going to stop you visiting your sick brother, at the time when he needs you the most?"

"No, its not like tha ..."

"Well at least we know where your priorities lie!" Suddenly, the line went dead. Vince tried to redial the number, but it was apparent that the person on the other end had disconnected the line. He slumped to the floor, thoughts flooding his head. _Is it my fault? What am i supposed to do? How will i tell Helen? _

After he had stopped mourning over the recent information, he decided to announce it to his unsuspecting family. They always kept in touch with one another, even recently planned a camping trip, and this would come as a cruel and shocking blow that would send shock waves throughout the house. He went over in his head how he was going to do it. H_oney...I have some bad news. Its about George, you know...my brother. Well, he's very ill and...we need to go and visit him." _This line was the main body of what he wanted to say, but Vince knew it would not be presented in such an informal and solid manner. Then an idea flashed through his mind. _What if I didn't tell them? If i just said we were going to visit my mother, that would be credible! _He was going to rent a car and drive from Scotland to Devon to "see his mother" and nobody would suspect a thing. But there was only one problem...


	2. Two: The start of things to come

The following day, Vince pursued in hiring out the car. He did not smoke, but under the stressful conditions, he decided to try. He lit a cigarette, took a couple of puffs and flicked the butt away down the smooth, black tarmac. It rolled down the road with red sparks escaping the heat. It took his mind off problems for a short while, until the car rental assistant sharply broke his concentration.

"If you would just sign here please sir."

"Ah yes, thank you. And what car will I be getting?"

"The one you asked for, sir. Its waiting at the entrance of the building now." The assistant seemed agitated and anxious, although she obviously was trying to hide it.

"Are you OK?" Vince asked, as the assistant, named Kate (he knew her name as it was on her badge), eyes started to shift from left to right.

"Fine sir, and even if I wasn't it's none of your business, because I don't know you!"

"Wow! Calm down Kate!" Vince was slightly scared by her erratic behaviour.

"Just go! Don't hang around here!" Kate shouted and ran into the portakabin type offices.

Vince Proceeded towards the entrance to collect the car, still quite shaken from the recent events. He opened the maroon coloured door and placed himself upon the leather seats. That's_ odd _he thought to himself, bemused _the car usually lowers because of my weight. _After pondering on the thought long enough, he shrugged it off and turned the key.

The maroon Ford Galaxy pulled up onto the gravel covered drive and was manoeuvred to just in front of the door. Vince pressed in the middle section of the steering wheel to initiate the horn, and alert the other family members that he was back. Helen and Joe still did not know the destination that Vince was driving them to, which added to the excitement of the journey. Helen occupied the front seat, whereas Joe was relegated to behind his father. He was used to this, being left out or others being favoured over him. At 6 foot 7 inches, he towered over the other family members.

They set off, and after some small talk, Vince thought that now was a perfect time to tell everyone where they were heading. He was just about to open his mouth, when a thumping sound was heard. Then another. Then another. It was rhythmic, so it was initially thought to be a flat tyre. He pulled over and proceeded to check out the wheels. Getting out of the car started a series of horrific events that would change all their lives forever...


	3. Three: An unexpected passenger

After thoroughly inspecting each and every tyre, Vince came to the conclusion that the noise did not spawn from there. So he checked other locations that my have been the cause, but to no avail. He walked around the back end of the car to get in to the drivers seat, when he heard the thumping again. He traced the noise back to the boot, which he hadn't checked yet.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

For the second time in one day, Vincent Harper was afraid. He hesitated to open the trunk door, then realised it was probably nothing. He found the courage to open it...

And there, curled up in a rental car's trunk, was a human being. He was half naked, no shirt on, blonde flowing hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. He was not tied or obstructed from exiting the boot in any way, and yet here he was, with a scared, innocent look in his eyes.

"What's your name?" Vince asked, a little relieved although confused

"S..Scott" answered the male, quivering.

"What are you doing in here?" Vince shouted, speaking in a tone as if "Scott" was from a different planet. He didn't answer. Vince asked again, only this time the person in the boot started to speak a completely different language, one that Vince had never heard of before. Then from out of nowhere, Scott flung his limp torso out of the back of the car, still babbling in an unknown tongue, and in an un provoked frenzy, he pulled out a knife from his khaki cargo pants and jabbed it into Vince's arm. He yelped and leaped back in agony. Helen was now out of the car, trying to piece together what the fuss what about.

"Oh my God Vince, you're bleeding!"

In one swift move, the attacker turned his head into the woman's direction, bared all his stained yellow teeth...and leapt.

At the last split second, Helen side stepped to divert Scott to the rough motorway. Strangely, no other cars had stopped to help out, and Joe did not seem interested that an attacker was on the verge of making him an orphan. Vince's' ego now came into play. _If I get beaten up by an unknown man, what would my wife think?_ So he strode over to Scott, although at this moment Vince was having serious doubts to whether that was his real name, placed his open, tensed fingers onto his shoulder and pulled him up to his feet. Then, Vince pushed the criminal backwards and attempted to swing his clenched, adrenaline pumped fist into Scott's face. But he was too quick, and got the blow in before Harper. His vision went hazy, he lost co-ordination and slowly but surely, everything was fading...


	4. Four: The Revelation

Vincent Harper awoke with a start. He looked to his left, and saw Helen. He was half expecting to see Joe on the opposite side of him: but he was not. Vince groggily set his focus in front of him, and realised that he and Helen were tied to trees and their mouths were covered with two bandanna's which were situated just at the edge of the motorway, but out of view from the public. After a short period of time Scott appeared. He gazed into Vince's eyes, and for a moment, they connected.

"I'm not who you think I am." exclaimed Scott

"I'm not Scott, I'm not lost and not sorry for stabbing you. All the times you stabbed me in the back, one small laceration wont make a difference."

_"All the times you've stabbed my in the back?" What's that supposed to mean? I don't even know this guy!_ Vince's anger had been replaced with confusion.

"So what excuse did she come up with then?"

_She? I think he's got the wrong people." _

"You still don't know who I am do you? After all the years I've covered for you, lied for you and you STILL don't know who I am? Does the name "George" ring any bells?"

George removed the bandanna from his brothers mouth, but kept Helen's in place.

"Where's my son?!" Vince asked, worried that this imposter had hurt his child.

"You couldn't care less about Joe! When was the last time you spoke to him?"

"Well, in the car on the way here." Mentioning the car reminded Vince of what might have happened to it. George saw this look and quickly knew.

"See? You're more interested in the car than Joe! He's with me anyway. Safe."

"Safe? With you? You stabbed me!" The confusion was replaced with anger again. It felt like his emotions were playing tennis.

"Do you know where he is now?" George questioned his brother. Come to think of it ,Vince was unsure of his sons whereabouts.

"If you've hurt him..."

"If I've hurt him? You crushed him more that anyone else could!."

Vince's eyes widened in shock. But then it dawned on Vince that he didn't take much notice of his son. George turned to look at a tree behind him and called out "Joe! Come and show Vince your new 'toy'!" Nearly as soon as he had said this, Joe emerged from the thick foliage. He was holding a Double Barrel Shotgun, and his eyes sparkled with rage. His gaze fixated onto Vince until George ordered "Load it!". Vince correctly assumed that his brother meant to load the gun, and Joe proceeded in this action, still looking at his shamed biological father. Helen's muffled screams could barely be heard, which meant that any potential rescuers could not possibly hear them.

Vince's eyes filled with tears,and yet he did not turn away. There was more than his dignity and respect on the line here, there was his life. Joe saw this, and his eyes narrowed and his lips were pursed shut. It was apparent to Vince that his son had an uncanny knowledge of how the particular gun functioned. He had never showed him, so how was he able to hold it correctly, or reload it in the right way. Joe raised the weapon, aiming for Vincent Harpers cranium. At this point, Vince closed his eyes in terrifying anticipation, just waiting for the bullet to penetrate any part of his body...

A clicking noise was heard, and then...

Nothing.

_Have I died? Was that it? _He slowly opened his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. There were people in T shirts marked "Crew" and about 3 cameras surrounding George. When he spotted that Vince had opened his eyes, George started to walk over to his brother and untied him from the tree.

_"_Wh...What's happening??"

George now had a smile on his face. Not the smile that was visible before, the sick, twisted grin. It was a warm and friendly smile that Vince had only seen either when they were plotting mischievously as children.A well dressed male quickly moved over to Vince, outstretched his arm and offered him his hand. Vince took it, for support to stand.

"Smile! You're on Scare Tactics!"

"...I'm where?" said Vince, still extremely shaken up.

"Scare Tactics? You know, the prank show where we scare you more than you ever can imagine?" The well dressed man laughed, but Vince was far from amused.

"So... my brother is okay? And my family?"

"They're both fine! Calm down Vince!" 'Well dressed man' laughs once again, and put his hand on Vince's shoulder.

_Well, I guess mental torture for the rest of my life was worth 15 minutes of entertainment for others... _


End file.
